At a news conference announcing public safety initiatives, Braun said Weis hasn't connected with the rank-and-file, a situation that has led to poor morale.

Braun said she is the sister of an active office and is from a police family, and street cops' relationship with the brass is as bad now as she's ever seen.

She suggested a new superintendent could come from within the department, where she said there's already a lot of talent. That person "would better understand not only the communities and the neighborhoods, but what the officers have to deal with."

She said Weis, who came from the FBI in Philadelphia, is someone not from here "who doesn't understand this city."

The person leading the city's police force shouldn't have to "get a guidebook out," she said.

"You need to get someone who knows Chicago to run the Chicago Police Department."

Weis, in a written statement Wednesday, pointed to a homicide rate that is at a 40-year low and to changes instituted during his tenure, including a new work schedule and updated equipment and weapons for officers. All of this happened at a time when hiring slowed to a trickle, he said.

"Nothing speaks to morale like results: the men and women of the Chicago Police Department, including their supervisors and command staff, have delivered amazing results in challenging times and I have been both honored and privileged to lead them,'' he said.

Department sources said while Weis has been honored to serve Daley, he thinks it is far too early to talk about his future with the department and that he will be selective with his options.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.